Performers

Bob Ostertag, Sylvie Courvoisier, Taylor Ho Bynum, Jim Black (USA)

With this brand new quartet, Bob Ostertag has assembled four acclaimed improvising musicians living in the US, each with his or her own original approach to creative music-making.

Ostertag himself has had a richly varied career that has combined electro-acoustic composition, improvisation in countless contexts (with the likes of Anthony Braxton and John Zorn, for instance), film, writing, and political activism. Swiss-born pianist Sylvie Courvoisier last visited Guelph as part of a duo with Mark Feldman, a project that characterizes how deftly she crosses the divide between European classical music and jazz.

Trumpeter Taylor Ho Bynum is best known for his apprenticeship and partnership with Anthony Braxton in ensembles like the Diamond Curtain Wall Trio (with Mary Halvorson) and Braxton's 12tet, but is steadily establishing himself internationally as a leader and top-flight improviser.

Drummer Jim Black is at the core of the group of musicians through which New York's downtown experimental music scene intersects with jazz, and has a history of collaboration with players like Ellery Eskelin and Dave Douglas, along with his own groups like the energetic electric jazz ensemble, Alasnoaxis.